Monday, 28 September 2015

A little noted aspect of the Israel-Palestine conflict

One of the often overlooked aspects of the Israel-Palestine conflict is demography, in particular the ever rising amount of people fighting over a relatively small piece of territory.

Israel has a population of roughly 8.2 million, in an area of 8,500 square miles. Its population density is 1,0004 per square mile. It is 263 miles long and its width ranges from 71 miles at its widest to 9.3 at its narrowest. It is No.32 in the list of the world's most densely populated countries according to Wikipedia.

Of course, the situation in the Palestinian territories is infinitely worse. The Gaza Strip is 139 square miles with a population of 1.8 million and a density of something approaching 10,000 per square mile. It is a mere 25 miles long and roughly 6 miles wide. The West Bank has a population of 2.3 million within 2,180 square miles. Taken together, the Palestinian territories rank at No.20 in the world list of population density.

As a result of the Israeli blockade and assault of 2014 it is estimated the area may be uninhabitable by 2020:

Perhaps one could imagine a bizzare reversal of the Jewish Exodus in the years to come, as millions of Palestinians simply march into Israel, unable to subsist in their present state.

Water is also a scarce and vital resource in the area as a whole and control of it is used as a weapon in the conflict.

Children are also used as weapons, both in the desire to keep the populations of both peoples rising and also as future and present soldiers. Palestinian children also represent a disproportionate number of casualties due to the enormous population density of the Gaza strip.

Addendum: "Israel is on the road to an ecological, social and quality of life disaster because as the population density rises it becomes more violent, congested and unpleasant to live in and with absolutely no room for any species other than humans."

31 comments:

Even though they speak linguistically-similar languages, even though they are phenotypically similar in appearance, even though the consume rather similar diets, even though they profess similar monotheistic creeds, Israelis and Palestinians will hate each other to the end of days. No matter the proximity of their homes, different ethnic groups will loathe each other to the end of time.

Human beings cannot stand each other, that is the antinatalist lesson.

Yes, it's fairly telling that all the recent leaders who have proclaimed 'national unity' have all been the most tyrannical dictators in history: Hitler, Mao, Stalin et al. People need to be led with a whip to stop killing each other. Maybe Humanity gets the dictators it deserves....

Hardly. At least Ashkenazi Jews are about 40% European, let alone that their IQs are worlds appart, with Ashkenazi Jews having the highest mean IQ of any ethnic group: 110. Pure unmixed Ashkenazis even have mean IQs of 112-115. Palenstinians are arab with a low mean if about 84, so of low intelligence, they are as culturally unimportant as most non-Europeans.

Señor Karl,I read your blog. As always very interesting. This never ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict is fueled by the real powers who do not want to see any peace in this part of the world. The Israelis bring people from the former Soviet Union and other parts of the world even from landlocked Paraguay, Jews, to establish settlements to act as a buffer against the growing Palestinian population. The Palestinian leadership know fully well that the real threat against the state of Israel are not the suicide bombers, Hamas (a Israeli creation), the PLO and the other organizations but their population. The circles of world power wants to keep this conflict going regardless of the human suffering. A truly ticking time bomb.But to be honest, Israelis and Palestinians deserve this never ending suffering. They do not want to find a solution,either. Take care of yourself.

Thank you Raul for what you wrote. Israel/Palastine is not the only war torn area that lends itelf to proxy wars waged by bigger powers, Syria is openly going that way now, but was going that long before the worlds media reported much about it with the clarity it is due. The dualism of the theology of Isreal/Palastine lends itself well to the area becoming the place to play out other dualistic empire logics, like East vs West and Russia vs America. How well one dualism fits around another in a finite space compounds the problem into something an actual gordian knot. Perhaps these places would be at their least divided and most open if nobody from outside fueled their divisions for their own gain, and nobody took any notice of their theology, but let the theology die slowly on the vine at it's own rate. What we have now in these proxy conflict zones is globalisation at its worst, the trade in armourments. The arms trade must surely be one of the older trades in history, older than sugar or modern slavery for instance, and comparable with said trades too in the misery it causes.

Señor Karl,Thank you for replying to my comment. I started reading your blog in 2013 but I did not post comments because I have little knowledge of philosophical or religious issues in the way you cover in this blog. We, human beings, love war, violence and destruction. Most of the streets, schools and public institutions in Asunción have the names of military heroes. If you say that these men in shining uniforms and with glittering medals are illustrated butchers they say that you are not a patriot. If you also say that the message of Jesus was brought by men with swords and hungry for gold in the name of the King along with men in black robes with their Bibles and crosses, you have no place in the system. And last but not least you tell people that we are mestizos as a result of rapes perpetrated by the conquistadors, you get only insults. Please keep up with your blog and take care. Raúl.

Señor Bearz,Thank you for your comment. This hot menu has letal ingredients: Assad´Syrian Army. Hezbolla, the Russians,the USA,the British,the French,the Germans all wanting to loot,conquer and seize lands,oil and have more geopolitical power. Did you see the movie with Nicholas Gage and Jared Leto The Lord of War? there Gage in his role said that killing is part of human nature and that´s the chain reaction, us, dressed with suit and ties armed with state of the art weapons. Be safe. Raul

Sadly the only american films I would admit to watching would old Woody Allen films along time ago, and I don't think Nicholas Cage appeared in any of them. As regards the number of baddies ripping the guts out of Syria, including President Assad who's daddy did something similar in 1982, I am reminded of the collective failure of diplomacy that led to WW1. Though with advanced technology taking the place of organised conscription on several of the sides, and the chances of honest reporting meagre it is simultaneously more deadly and more detatched, though if you were in the maelstrom of it then the lack of conscription by some of your enemies would be a minor point. .

Señor Karl,Yes,Karl, the Lord of War was a great movie. I read that the movie was based on the lives of five arms dealers, specially a Russian national called Viktor Bout. But there is another one,very prominent, Basil Zaharoff,awarded with the Order of the British Empire in 1918, the so-called mystery man of Europe and merchant of death. He once boasted that “I made wars so that I could sell arms to both sides.” His advice to a British politician was “Begin on the left in politics,and then,if necessary work over to the right. Remember it is sometimes necessary to kick off the ladder those who have helped you to climb it”. This guy from Turkey is worth making a movie. Greetings. Raúl

Thank you, Raul. I am familiar with Zaharoff. He was portrayed brilliantly by Leo McKern in the excelllent tv series 'Reilly, Ace of Spies' available on YouTube.

Also worth remembering that during WW1 British firms dealt with German companies who made weapons designed to kill British soldiers. Same thing with America and Germany in WW2. Capitalism conquers all.

Hi Karl. Off topic but I am reading climate wars by gwynne dyer. Our species is most likely doomed so your thoughtful decision not to breed makes sense. I have a 3 year old daughter and worry about the world she will live in as an adult in 2035. Looks not good but living in Australia is a blessing I think. Cheers

Again this is off topic and personal but I can imagine people thinking "that bored stupid guy is a dad?" Well due to a dysfunctional relationship I am not her primary carer. She is in a loving stable foster home where she is happy and very well looked after. I am a dad that visits her. Not easy for me but best for her.

Yay Karl. I love it when you write and wish you'd write more but I know how it is. Anyway, thank you for cutting through the endless bullshit political abstractions to simply illuminate the stark human and physical reality. Deeply refreshing.

Great to see you comment here, Sharkbabe. I've often thought you should start a blog yourself. And yes, beneath all the verbiage and theorising are just sad human beings, dragging their asses through this life, until death comes to take them.

Señor Karl,I saw the other version of Sydney Reilly with the actor Sam Neill. Capitalism conquers all and destroys all. Prescott Bush with his buddies of the Skull and Bones trading with the enemy while U.S. soldiers were fighting brutal wars in North Africa. Naughty boys. Be safe. Raul

Fuck technology. Have to post this again. Google Old Tom killer whale of eden Australia. A unique example of mutuliasm. If you are going to chat with a fellow biped, make it an old one, They know more interesting shit

If Israel does eventually fall to the teeming masses, it'll be interesting to see how evangelical Christianity takes to the news, considering how important Israel's existence is to their end-time scenario(s).

I once read a report that said about 85% of children in Gaza suffer from mental problems (PTSD, depression, anxiety...) because of all the horrors they witness due to Israel's indiscriminate shelling and the constant fear never knowing if they're gong to be next. Yet most Gazans are prolific breeders with procreation as their number one on the to-do list despite all the poverty, misery and unimaginable horrors they live in and KNOW their future children WILL certainly live ! There's a procreation war going on there -on top of the other wars- where both Jews and Palestinians wanting to OUT-BREED one another ! So basically parents there - and everywhere else BTW- see their children as no more than a means to an end. They (children) are seen as no more than fodder or pawns. It's like they don't even see them as living or sentient beings but merely as a commodity. This is the "love" of parents for their children that we're always told there's none like it ?? How do you consciously allow yourself to even think about bringing a soul into this meat grinder ?? Of course this isn't limited to that conflict. Like it's been mentioned by someone else here but this conflict is but a microcosm...

This idea of creating a soul is just so fucked up on so many levels to even try to cover it in a million-page book.

Hello Anonymous, there is a basic conflict in your presentation, if not several. The first point is that with mental illness that prevalent and there being no cure for it there will be an active denial of it in the community in which it is present-where there is no cure there will be no interest in diagnosis. We could define them as being mentally ill but they would not do that-they would not want a label they could do nothing with. The second point is patriarchal-it is the men that want the women to breed as often as possible to give them something with which to fight each other, so I see the conflict as male vs female as much as Jew vs Arab, Finally if they thought life was a meat grinder then the idea of having a soul, or being a soul with a body attached to it would simply not apply, and collectively they would have all the social graces of a death metal band lyricist.

Señor Karl,I forgot to add to this post that I remember reading somewhere that in 1998, the MI6 (the British Intelligence) learned that Israeli scientists were working on a biological weapon that would target Arabs. If Israel started this project seventeen years ago, then by now the hawks in the Israeli government would be very keen on using this weapon at any time. Be safe. Raúl.